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Coldwater Creek Knit Denim Ankle Jeans - 480 - 718 Misty Mauve 18W
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The flattering comfort you love in a great summer length and colors to adore! Our best-selling knit denim is ready for warmer days and brighter outlooks, in an updated ankle length and a bevy of versatile hues. delivering the same superb stretch, shape retention and long-lasting color you count on. Imported.
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(Pocket-lint) - Remember MP3 players? Those were the things that were popular at the start of the decade, before mobile phones all got dozens of gigabytes of storage and apps and games and lots of things to keep you occupied when you are bored.
Well, Samsung thinks that there's a market for these devices in the small group who don't have tablets, phones or other Android-powered devices in their lives already. So is the Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.2 worth some of your money, or just a wannabe phone-without-the-phone?
The Galaxy S Wi-FI is simple enough, in its styling. You can't really tell it apart from a phone, aside from the fact that it has stereo speakers on the front - where most phones either don't do stereo, or have the speakers on the back. This means you get great sound from them, that's louder, clearer and more difficult to obstruct with clothing or hands.
The back houses a camera, and a plastic cover which can be removed to show the battery and the microSD card socket. There are volume controls and an unlock button on the right-hand side, and the USB and headphone jack are both located on the bottom edge of the device.
There's a single physical button on the front, with menu and back controls on either side. These are nice enough, but they are invisible unless the phone's backlight is on. That means, unless you can remember which is which - not a massive task for most people - then you need to get the lights on before you know which side to press.
Sound quality
Let's not keep you hanging around, the Galaxy S sounds lovely. We tested with some nice Klipsch headphones, and the audio produced was rich, clear and had just enough bass without being overwhelming.
Of course, the sound varies wildly depending on what headphones you use. Ours increase bass, but others have a flatter response, or favour treble. But the EQ options provided by the Samsung offer ways to tweak the sound for such eventualities. That means people who like skull-rattling bass are taken into consideration too.
As good as the EQ is, and as nice as it is to have options to tweak the sound, there's a problem. In common with all Android devices, EQ applies only to apps installed by Samsung, or bundled with Android. That means, if you want to use a streaming service or third-party music player, you won't be able to tweak the audio, unless you purchase a third-party EQ app from the market. This is another problem with Android that doesn't help sell it as a platform for audio devices.
Having said that, the overall balance for this device is very good. So audio via the Rdio app, and Plex - out prefered media streamer - both sounded great.
Screen quality
It's fair to say, the screen on the Samsung is fantastic quality. It's a TFT LCD, so there's no unnatural OLED colours to contend with. Details are sharp, and so is text on-screen. It's nice to look at web pages on, but it's also a great device to use for watching video, or just playing games.
The iPod touch is technically better, but it's also smaller. So while the Samsung can't boast a "retina" quality display, it is very good indeed, and using it is a joy.
Android just won't shut the hell up
For us, the biggest complaint we have about Android-based MP3 players is that they're cursed with the same idiotic system as Android-based phones. Namely, notification sounds and system alerts all happily crash in over the top of your music, making it fade out to almost nothing while a stupid chime or beep plays over the top.
Of course, you can turn off notification sounds, but if you're using the device to read email, check Twitter and make Skype calls and send messages then turning off notification sounds a bit of a problem, because you'll never know when anything happens.
And what's more infuriating is that this is solvable by Google without any effort at all. All it needs is for apps to be able to mute notification sounds, and then we'd have no problem with emails wrecking the listening experience.
This is the worst thing about using Android for a media player, and the best reason to get an iPod or some other dedicated non-android-based player.
A slightly outdated version of Android
The Galaxy S runs Android 2.3.6, which is basically an updated version of the original Gingerbread. In a phone, we might bemoan the fact that it's an old version of the OS, but for a media player we can't help but say "meh". It just doesn't seem to matter as much.
That's partially because the audience for these devices is likely to be a less technical one, and one interested in music more than phone operating systems. Sure, it's nice to have the latest version of everything, but it won't affect the core of what this device does.
Based on our time with phones, the processor and memory specification of this device wouldn't make it a great Ice Cream Sandwich device anyway, so perhaps it's better that it uses an older version.
Samsung does, however, provide some customisations. Touchwiz is here, and you get the usual visual benefits of that. Samsung has toned it down in recent years, and it's the better for it. You get lock screen controls too, which is essential for a music-focused device.
You also get Samsung's usual apps for sharing media with DLNA compatible devices. Samsung calls it AllShare but like all DLNA apps, it allows you to play media on the device from a remote server, or to a remote server, from the device. We found it a little slow to browse remote media on our Plex server, and to be honest, the Plex app is nicer for this sort of thing.
Media is synced via USB, as you'd expect, but you can either drag and drop, or use Kies. We didn't use Kies, because we swore a blood oath never to install it ever again on any of our PCs. It may have improved, but it's frankly not necessary these days. Either use another, third-party program, or just drag and drop files in your file manager. If you must use Kies, at least now it syncs via Wi-Fi.
Two capacities, only one real choice
The Galaxy S Wi-Fi is available in either 8GB or 16GB capacities, which is good, but there is very little reason to pay more for the 16GB version, as there is the option of a microSD socket too. This means that spending a lot of money on a higher capacity model is likely to be a waste of money. Especially as a 32GB microSD card costs about £15 these days.
Of course, internal storage is a little more convenient, and some apps will default to internal storage, and not give you an option of using the SD card, this applies to the likes of Spotify and Rdio, so it might be that if you want to rely on these services, that you for the higher capacity model.
If, however, you're mostly using MP3s from your own collection, stick to the 8GB and invest in a 32GB microSD card. After all, this makes switching to a new device a lot easier too.
Photos from the on-board camera are really nothing to shout about. But this isn't a photographic device, and it's not really sold as one. That said, for tweets and Facebook status updates, it's more than adequate. Colour is decent, and there's enough detail for most basic uses, and we have seen worse on camera phones, frankly.
Although images are fairly modest in output size from the 2-megapixel on-board camera - there's a front-facing snapper too, for video calls via Skype or the like. But, that too, makes them decent for uploading to the internet.
The question isn't really if the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 is a good MP3 player. Because it is. It's also a great app, game and internet device. In fact, if it had 3G it would be a great phone too. And therein lies our one major issue with it: in most cases, it would simply be better to buy a Samsung mobile phone, and not all that much more expensive either.
But assuming you want something just for music, then we think you'll be very happy with the Galaxy S. It's a solid little device, with a pleasant finish and a lovely screen. Sound quality is, thankfully, excellent, and therefore listening to it is a pleasure.
A limited processor means that you might struggle with the most recent, graphically intensive games, but even so, there is plenty of casual gaming to be done here, which should please the target audience.

subset: commoncrawl


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February 11, 2013 (BOR/JUBA) – In a green valley beside the River Nile lies a village dotted with grass-thatched huts where an isolated 140 people call home. Children play outside and others pump water from the borehole, as elderly women loiter around the compound half naked.
Located in Malek, about 20km south of Bor, the capital of South Sudan's Jonglei state, the village was established in the 1930s to house people suffering from leprosy, according to local elders.
Leprosy victims sought (...)
The following ads are provided by Google. SudanTribune has no authority on it.


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Highly qualified foreign law students from UCLA School of Law's partner schools may apply to attend UCLA School of Law for one semester. Current partner schools include:
Foreign law students who are not enrolled at one of the above partner schools are not eligible to apply to study abroad at UCLA Law, as the law school does not presently accommodate "free movers" or other students outside of its existing mobility agreements.
UCLA School of Law's academic calendar begins in August each year. The first semester runs from early August to December and the second semester runs from January to early May. Each partner school may normally nominate up to two students to attend UCLA School of Law per semester, with a limit of no more than 12 exchange students over a consecutive three-year period.
Foreign law students who wish to attend UCLA School of Law under the FLSEP must be advanced law students in master's or doctoral degree programs. In rare instances, students in their final year of study toward an initial law degree may be considered. Applicants must have obtained at least one full year of credit at their home institution and must be in good academic standing there.
Successful applicants will have superior academic records, an understanding of comparative law (including common law systems), and the necessary English language skills to undertake rigorous legal education offered in English. In the case of non-native speakers of English, applicants will be required to demonstrate their English language competence by means of a minimum TOEFL score of 617 on a traditional hard-copy test on paper, 260 on a computer-based test, or 105 by internet-based means of testing. A partner school will nominate only those students that it believes meet the stated academic standards of UCLA School of Law.
How to Apply
Only those students who have been nominated by one of our partner schools may apply. Nominated students must provide the following supporting documentation in order to receive consideration for admission to UCLA School of Law's Foreign Legal Study and Exchange Program:
The complete application materials for each student should be sent to UCLA School of Law and must be received no later than April 15 for students who wish to visit UCLA School of Law during the fall semester later that year, and no later than September 15 for students who wish to visit UCLA School of Law during the spring semester of the following year.
Applications and supporting documents should be submitted electronically as high resolution PDF files to Sidney Matthews, at firstname.lastname@example.com. Hardcopy applications may also be submitted, sent to the attention of Tiffany Parnell at the School of Law postal address. Once completed, the file will be forwarded to the corresponding UCLA FLSEP Coordinator. The UCLA FLSEP Coordinator is the designated faculty coordinator and contact person for administrative matters pertaining to the FLSEP for each respective partner school.
The UCLA FLSEP Coordinator will make a recommendation for or against admission of any applicant from the school for which the Coordinator is responsible. Such recommendation will be forwarded to the Chair of the International Curriculum and Visiting Scholars Committee at UCLA School of Law, who shall decide whether to admit the applicant in consultation with other Committee members and the Director of Graduate Studies. Successful applicants will receive a letter of acceptance to visit UCLA School of Law under the FLSEP that will include additional information about registering for coursework at UCLA School of Law and related matters.
Admission of foreign students to UCLA School of Law under the FLSEP is at the sole discretion of UCLA School of Law, is limited to participation in the exchange program at the law school, and does not constitute admission to UCLA for any degree program or any other purpose.
Once accepted into the FLSEP, exchange students will be permitted to enroll in courses for which they are qualified at UCLA School of Law in accordance with normal enrollment procedures. It will be the responsibility of exchange students to verify that the UCLA law courses in which they enroll are eligible for credit at their respective home schools. To view a comprehensive list of recent years' course offerings at the law school and their corresponding course descriptions, prospective students may visit our curriculum course list.
Exchange students will be required to fulfill all requirements for courses in which they are registered. Students may elect to receive letter grades for their courses or take their courses on a pass with credit/no pass-no credit basis. Students must enroll in a minimum of eight units of coursework and will receive academic credit for successfully completed courses up to the equivalent of thirteen units or hours of credit in one semester, which will be reported on an official UCLA transcript.
Each partner school shall approve the coursework and monitor the studies undertaken by its own students, including reviewing course materials and sufficient written work of the student to ensure that the program at UCLA School of Law meets the partner school's standards. UCLA School of Law will also appoint an advisor for each visiting exchange student. The advisor, who will normally be the UCLA FLSEP Coordinator for the exchange student's home institution, will be a well-qualified faculty member or administrator who will supervise and monitor the student's study at the law school.
Fees and Expenses
Exchange students will pay tuition and other related fees to their home school and will be exempt from paying such fees to UCLA School of Law. The home school will be responsible for ensuring that its own students have registered, paid required fees, and are in good standing at the home school. Students must provide for their own personal expenses and housing costs while attending classes in the exchange program. UCLA School of Law does not provide any financial aid, nor can it offer guaranteed housing to any incoming exchange students.
Exchange students will be responsible for obtaining the appropriate visa and related documents necessary to pursue studies at UCLA School of Law. UCLA's Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars (DCISS) will process the visa for an exchange student for a $40 fee, which shall be paid by the visiting student. International exchange students who do not hold U.S. citizenship or permanent residency will normally apply for the J-1 student visa.
All incoming students will be automatically enrolled in the university's mandatory health insurance program, UC SHIP. Exchange students are required to cover the cost of this insurance or provide proof of full health coverage that meets UCLA insurance requirements, in which case they must submit an application to waive UC SHIP. Adequate medical coverage that meets the minimum conditions of health insurance per university regulations is also a condition of obtaining a visa. Prior to registering at UCLA School of Law, exchange students must also provide the law school with documentary evidence, in PDF format, that they possess sufficient funds to cover all reasonable anticipated costs and personal expenses during their stay at UCLA.
University Resources
UCLA's Dashew Center will be available to assist exchange students during their stay at UCLA School of Law. FLSEP participants will also be entitled to any and all services normally available to UCLA students (for instance, parking permits, access to the UCLA recreation center, etc.). Visiting exchange students will be required to pay any small incidental fees associated with these services, as regular UCLA students must.
Student Conduct
Incoming exchange students visiting UCLA School of Law will be subject to the same rules and regulations as regular, full-time students regarding general conduct, academic honesty, and similar matters. In accordance with the discretion and capabilities of UCLA School of Law, exchange students will enjoy the same privileges and responsibilities as regular students.


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how can we generate a key file to a certificate already made
actually is the process used to generate cert from a key file reversible
this kind of protection is used in signing a symbian sis file
certificate i really want to reverse is sha1rsa
how can we generate a key file to a certificate already made
actually is the process used to generate cert from a key file reversible
this kind of protection is used in signing a symbian sis file
certificate i really want to reverse is sha1rsa
How about YOU do some of you own basic research as you are directed by the FAQ to do yourself. You DID READ THE FAQ, didn't you? You DID notice the BIG RED LETTERS at the top of the FORUMS on your way in!
How about YOU put something like:
reverse sha1rsa
reversing sha1rsa
into YOUR favorite search engine and YOU read some of the information YOU will find. Once YOU do that, as is required, YOU will have a better idea of the possibilities and will not look like someone who is too lazy to do even the minimum required by our Rules.
AND.... another one bites the dust.
Doubtful we'll ever see him/her again...
Have Phun
Blame Microsoft, get l337 !!
generating a key for a ceritifacate is very different from reversing sha1rsa so the help you gave doesnt really work :P
The key to understanding complicated things is to know what not to look at and what not to compute and what not to think.
well i have googled a lot and never found any thing at all
my motive is to create a key for a certificate which is already generated and i dont have a key of
i did google it before any post , yet failed to get a result ........
simply answer it that is it really possible to generate a key from a certificate ..... ( without taking many years )
i really promise that i have used google upto about 20 pages and did not find a solution
It's theoretically impossible to derive a private key from the public key embedded in the certificate, even though the keys are somewhat related and it's possible to find the public key from the private.
Btw, I forgot to mention there are a few factors that can make the RSA easily broken. Of the top of my head:
- If the primes, p and q, are not large enough;
- If the primes, p and q, are relatively close to each other (even if they are very big numbers);
- The current standard states that the key length must be 2048bits, so I guess that any lower length must be somewhat breakable by BF.
I'm sure there are some more ways of attacking the cipher, but these are the ones I can recall. Just search for RSA Security.
A good site to search for attacking vectors on ciphers is Google Scholar. There are plenty of research papers written about the matter.
Last edited by r3aper; March 12th, 2009 at 18:29. Reason: Update info on RSA Attacks
If you're looking for a tool to brute force the private key, you can use http://quequero.org/uicwiki/images/RSATool2.rar
there are certs already stored in a symbian phone
the device and the signing tool check if the key used is correct or not .... thus my logic is that if i m able to generate a key which "fits" my certificate , then i can i can sign any app which i develop and wont need the symbian signed every time . there must be a way that is used by a device to recognize the key used , so i just need to fool it .
the key length is 1024 bits
Why don't you replace the public key in the certificate (assuming the public key is not used for encrypting the soft) with the one generate from YOUR own keypair... Then decrypt using YOUR own private key?
Or maybe I've hit the bottle once too many, heh!
Have Phun
Blame Microsoft, get l337 !!
Aimless, I suppose that wouldn't work. I think you cannot change the public key from the root certificates, even if you did the certificate signature would appear invalid!
When you sign an application, the mobile device will check with it's certificates trying to validate the signature. So if the private key used to sign the application can't be related to any of the public keys of the certificates stored in the mobile device, the application is flagged as invalid.
So you would have to get a certificate from some CA which has a chain linked to any other CA which already have a certificate on your device (the so-called root certificates) (actually this process is what you do using symbian signed).
Bottom line is, if you want to sign your application with your keys and don't want to get a certificate from any CA, you have to generate a self-signed certificate, this is possible with tools like openssl, then you would have to insert that certificate on your mobile device as a root certificate and that's the hard part.
How you insert a certificate as root on your mobile device that's something you must research, can't help you there, but I'm guessing if it's possible is via some exploit.
thats the only way right now available ...
we make a cert using openssl and then use exploits to place them in resource folders in the memory
now what i wanted was , that i copied a rootcert from my phones rom , but i dont have the key to it ..
so , i wanted to forge a key for the cert ....
actually , i have difficulty understanding the verification method used by phone to verify the key.
since it only has the public key that is placed in cert file ..... how does it verifies
The Certificate, in it's most basic form, is composed by a Public Key, user identity (which is irrelevant in this case) and a Digital Signature.
As I told you before in my first post, the relation between the Public Key and the Private Key is purely mathematical and it's made in such a way that is trivial to relate both keys. Nevertheless it is impossible (unless the generated parameters of RSA are weak) to derive the Public Key from the Private Key.
So if you sign something with a Private Key the mobile device just needs to do some computation with the Public Key to verify the validity of the content. So the device doesn't really care about the Private Key.
Now you can try to do what Aimless told you, you generate a KeyPair and substitute the Public Key of the certificate with your own. But then you would have also to replace the Digital Signature, which I guess from your first post is SHA-1. So you hash the whole new certificate and voilà you have a new Digital Signature.
But then again you would have to exploit the mobile device to add this new certificate, so I don't know why you would want to modify an existing certificate as opposed to create a new one, if the end result is the same.
Too bad about your Symbian phone... it's ridiculously easy to install new root certificates on Windows Mobile devices: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915840
Actually, did you even try to search for this info for Symbian? It looks rather painless to install a new root cert on Symbian: http://www.google.com/search?q=symbian+%22root+certificate%22+import+OR+install
well...... no it isnt easy .....
nokia doesnt allow it . u cannot store ur own root certs ... ( only by using exploits ..... which are eventually closed in upgrades and new devices )
the exploits we use break the warranty .... * imagine damaging ur screen and now u r unable to remove the certs u installed by exploits because u cannot see the screen at all *
i wanted to create a valid key for existing cert found in the rom and sign app with it .. ( no warranty broken )
also if anyone wants to distribute their app as freeware they have to get a publisher i d for $ 200 and then go through testing app for $20
when the app is free why is symbiansigned bothered with money ( only to destroy freeware ) ...
also there are cool apps developed by people which are free (and apps which are not free are hyped and overpriced and have lesser functionality in some cases ) but are limited to a single imei , or the user must sign it himself ....( most are noobs ) and dont understand even the meaning of signing ....... ( scares them away )
while i bought a phone why a part of it is locked by ......... ( its not theirs anymore since i bought and i must be free to do anything i want to )
on name of virus protection ( by signing process ) they are shielding their inept protections against cracking of an app
and also killing freeware ( win win condition @ our money )
and i really promise i did search google about placing a rootcert in nokia
( there are entire forums based on using exploits to hack a phone )
till date hacks are available ( one is no longer valid , fixed by .......) .


text:
HOUSTON, TX — Saint Arnold Brewing Co. (www.saintarnold.com), the oldest craft brewery in Texas is preparing to launch the Bishop's Barrel series next week. Saint Arnold Bishop's Barrel, which will only be available in bars and restaurants, will feature small batches of a variety of barrel aged beers under the Saint Arnold Bishop's Barrel label. As is the case with Saint Arnold's highly regarded Divine Reserve series, each batch of Bishop's Barrel will be distinguished by the number on the neck label.
Saint Arnold Bishop's Barrel No. 1 is a Russian Imperial Stout aged for nearly 10 months in used oak bourbon barrels that the brewery acquired from Kentucky's Woodford Reserve distillery. Saint Arnold emptied 48 barrels, which produced 948 cases of 12-ounce bottles. Bishop's Barrel No. 1 will ship to bars and restaurants throughout Texas and Louisiana on Monday, November 5, 2012.
"We filled our first barrel in 2005, mainly for our own enjoyment," said Saint Arnold founder/brewer Brock Wagner. "We slowly expanded our barrel program to a few barrels here and there before beginning our barrel program in earnest at the end of last year. The barrels essentially become one more ingredient in the beer recipe adding both the character of the beverage previously stored in the barrel as well as flavors extracted from the wood."
Bishop's Barrel No. 1 is a pleasant sipping beer with the bourbon both present but not overpowering. It pours a black color with a nose that is all bourbon and chocolate. The taste starts with a mix of spice with the bourbon and chocolate emerging and lingering through the finish. The warmer it gets, the better Bishop's Barrel No. 1 tastes. The brewery recommends serving between 55 and 60 degrees.
Since moving into its downtown brewery more than three years ago, Saint Arnold has planned to expand its barrel aging. The brewery features a 2,000 square foot barrel room housing over 200 barrels acquired from California wineries and Kentucky distilleries. Saint Arnold uses the barrels one time before they are retired. They make lovely tables or flower pots after that.
Aging is currently underway for three future Bishop's Barrel offerings, including Bishop's Barrel No. 2, which will be an Old Ale in Chardonnay barrels with cherries. It has been aging for nearly a year and is scheduled for release in February 2013. The barrels came from a winery founded in 1981 by Wagner's cousin.
"Our brewers are enjoying the challenge of deciding what to put into a barrel next," said Wagner.
Barrel aging beer is a very small niche in the overall craft brewing industry, but it has gained in popularity as tastes evolve and appreciation for craft beer varieties has grown. The Great American Beer Festival has four categories devoted to wood- and barrel-aged beers that attracted more than 300 entries in 2011.
On Twitter, follow @SaintArnold and #BB1.
Editors – Download high resolution images of the following:
- Bishop's Barrel No. 1 bottle: http://www.saintarnold.com/images/bishops_barrel_bottle.jpg
- Saint Arnold Barrel Room (credit Joey Garcia): http://www.saintarnold.com/images/barrels_1.jpg
- Saint Arnold Barrel Room (credit Joey Garcia): http://www.saintarnold.com/images/barrels_2.jpg
- Bishop's Barrel Series logo: http://www.saintarnold.com/images/bishops_barrel_logo.jpg
About Saint Arnold Brewing Company:
Saint Arnold Brewing's 13 brews are made and sold by the company's staff of 42 dedicated employees. Ranked 43rd on the Brewers Association list of top craft breweries, Saint Arnold was listed by USA Today as one of the "10 great places to see what's brewing in beer," and Smart Meetings magazine named it among the "Top 5 breweries to host an event." Saint Arnold is located at 2000 Lyons Avenue and its brewery tour and tasting is offered every weekday at 3:00 P.M. and Saturdays starting at 11 A.M. For more information on Saint Arnold's five year-round and five seasonal beers as well as root beer, log on to www.saintarnold.com.


text:
The versatility of the CGA Rules and the fact that every detail can be processed by hand makes CityEngine a rapid and effective tool for game development.
The versatility of the CGA Rules and the fact that every detail can be processed by hand makes CityEngine a rapid and effective tool for game development.
Christian Holzer, FH-Hagenberg
Project Goal: Procedural Game Level Design
To demonstrate the practical applications of his thesis revolving around the procedural generation of architecture in computer games, Christian Holzer and a team of five students decided to develop a 3D action role-playing computer game. In the course of the project they quickly realized that they wanted to create a gloomy post-apocalyptic central European city environment as the main game level. They set the following production requirements:
It was clear that the particular environment Holzer and his team wanted to achieve needed a large central European city with a low polygon count that would be created in a short amount of time. In addition, they called for an efficient way to model the destruction, since over 60 percent of the city should show some, if not total destruction. Holzer was able to use the CGA shape grammar in a way that allowed him to implement the destruction of the architecture procedurally.
"Before creating the rules for the houses and parks we simply extruded blocks to investigate the effect of the architecture. For our project it was important to design a good balance between the narrow street areas and open spaces or parks. The player should have the ability to freely explore the entire level of the game ‐ yet have a special layout of streets, blocks and important buildings to serve as a guide to lead to the more competitive game areas. The CGA rules are very diverse, not only for generating buildings and streets but also for example parks with randomly distributed vegetation. With a little practice the time saved becomes quite evident especially compared to other methods."
In a team of five developers, Christian Holzer was the lead level and environment artist. He used CityEngine and the CGA rules for the procedural modeling of buildings, parks and streets as well as for distributing the remaining models. All game assets were created and textured with Autodesk® Maya®. Here is his work flow:
CityEngine was used to generate the entire game level along with distributing all assets. The parametric destruction of buildings was also implemented using CGA rules written in CityEngine. The final game level was eventually exported from Maya® to use with the Ogre3D-Engine.
Procedural Modeling: Christian Holzer
Team: Stefan Grassberger, Ivo Brunnbauer, Lukas Meindl, Nico Harather und Christian Holzer
Project: Bachelor Thesis, Dark Realm Game, FH Hagenberg


text:
Good and Bad News
Ponyfinder updates
Re: Good and Bad News
The free first level adventure will be free to everypony. We'll put it up on drivethrurpg when it's ready for everyone to enjoy.
- Glyph Reader
- Posts: 575
- Joined: Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:28 pm
- Location: The U.S. of A.
Re: Good and Bad News
Yes! Something tells me it will be amazing.
-Glyph Reader
-Glyph Reader
Re: Good and Bad News
We're hoping so! I'm going to do some work on it tonight, speaking of.
Re: Good and Bad News
Question, do all versions of the Ponyfinder book that is available for sale give you a pdf of the book itself? I want to know if I can buy a hardcover version and use the pdf while I wait for the hardcover to come
Re: Good and Bad News
Yes. The moment you buy one, I will hurry along an invite to the playtest, which means you have the pdf all the way through to, and including, the final copy.
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text:
Savory Autumn Crostata
Everyone needs a little something to warm up their bellies for the Thanksgiving feast…a little nosh, a little nibble. Savory Autumn Crostata with butternut squash, onion, apple and blue cheese is perfect.
The 2010 November Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She
chose to challenge Daring Bakers' to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source,
as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- Pinch salt
- 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced (1 stick)
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 large baking apple
- 1 small or 1/2 medium butternut squash (about 3/4 pound), halved, seeded, and skin on
- 1 small yellow onion, peeled, root end trimmed but intact
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons whole-grain mustard
- 1⁄3 cup crumbled Stilton or other blue cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)
Now that the recipe is out of the way…let's move on to the good stuff…
Start prepping your veggies. The good news is there is no need to peel the butternut squash. I had a nice small squash which worked out perfectly for slices. When cutting your onion, leave the root end intact, only trimming away the root threads. Core and slice the apple with the idea being to make all the slices about the same size and thickness.
Actually…first, make the dough. Pulse the flour and salt together in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse a couple of times until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few bean-size bits of butter in it. Add the egg and pulse 1 to 2 times more…it just hast to be damp enough to stick together. If the dough seems very dry, add up to 1 tablespoon of cold water, 1 teaspoon at a time, pulsing briefly. Remove the blade and bring the dough together by hand. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Roll out the dough into a large disk, and dusting generously with flour. All those wonderful creamy dots – yep, you guessed right…it's butter! Don't be afraid, as this is what makes a crust flaky and lovely. Remember to work with your dough quickly and as little as possible…if the butter melts…your crust is toast!
Put all the squash, onion and apple slices into a bowl, and pour the melted butter over the top. Toss in the herbs, and season with salt and pepper, toss or mix them gently so each piece is coated perfectly in buttah!
Roll the dough to about 1/8 inch thick and about 2 -3 inches wider in diameter than you would like the finished crostata to be. Place the dough on a sheet of parchment on a baking sheet and spread the mustard over the dough, leaving a 1-1½ inch border.
Beginning on the outside, alternate slices of squash, apple and onion in a circle, tucking them close together.
Continue layering it all into the center of the circle as well using smaller pieces to fill in the holes. Next, fold in the sides, pleating where necessary to contain the filling.
Press the edges down gently and tuck any pointy pieces of onion or apple back down into the crostata. Place in a 400° oven until the crust is golden brown and flaky, about 55 minutes.
While the crostata is baking…it's time to get the blue cheese out…any blue will work…stilton would be especially delicious…and I used a roquefort.
After the 55 minutes, pull the crostata out of the oven.
Crumble the cheese using a fork and scatter over the top of the crostata.
Place the crostata back in the oven for another 5 minutes to melt the cheese.
Let is cool for a few minutes, slice it into wedges and serve. It can also be served room temperature as well. Enjoy and be sure to save a little bit of room for Turkey and fixin's!


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Some nice news today for VMC fans: the teams at ESOC are getting closer to restoring the VMC back to operation. Imaging stopped, of course, with last autumn's anomaly, the solution of which has kept everyone in the MEX family fully occupied for several months. VMC, being last priority, was not worked on. But we're hopeful that we'll get a solution soon, and we'll post news here as soon as we hear anything.
References to our very own VMC camera activities highlighted - and note very nice comments on teamwork! Click here to read the full report.
While full science operations have now been resumed, a number of tasks remain to be completed. Most important among these is the implementation of an OBCP scheduler. This will enable the spacecraft to operate autonomously for up to a week, compared to the few days that are possible with the current FAST system. Work is also in hand to resume operation of the Visual Monitoring Camera.
Enormous team effort
Completely redesigning the way in which Mars Express is controlled has involved an enormous amount of work for the mission control team at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), assisted by their counterparts at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), PI-teams, other ESA experts and partners in industry. Everyone involved with the mission is extremely grateful for their hard work.
Although the 'Express' in Mars Express highlights that the mission was developed in a short time and with a relatively modest budget, the ability to resume full operations after a very serious failure shows that the resulting design is both robust and flexible.
Mars Express has now been restored to full operational capability and its potential mission lifetime remains unchanged.


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Legal Claim Record
|1. A documented account of data and/or information that represents or helps describe the state of a Legal Claim related item or object at one or more specific points in time, often stored and indexed in some formal manner for later retrieval, that helps address the needs and issues associated with accounting, auditing, compliance, litigation or knowledge management in general.
Read More
|1) The Semantic Root Noun for this term is: Legal Claim
2) Semantically Related Terms: The "Legal Claims Management Glossary"
3) The Legal Claims Management Home Page covers much more about other related terms and concepts associated with this term or phrase.


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Color Ring Program
Color Ring Program
Step 1. - Purchase our color ring for $20.00Step 2. - Match and choose your perfect color in the comfort of your home.
Step 3. - After you have chosen your color, return the color ring back to Leyla Milani Hair.
Step 4. - Once we receive the color ring back, we will refund the $20.00 to your credit card.
It's that easy, no more guessing games!
If for some reason you are unable to find your desired color, simply send the color ring back to us and we will refund the full $20.00. Please allow 5-10 business days for the credit to be applied back to your credit card.
We recommend brushing your Leyla Milani Hair extensions with our Miracle Brush and using our Rescue Me Hair Mask. Remember these are 100% real human hair extensions and should be cared for just as you would your own lovely locks. We suggest using a mild shampoo and conditioner (sulfate-free ones work best) to wash your Leyla Milani Hair. You don't need to wash it as frequently as your own hair; just when you feel it needs it. Do not brush your Leyla Milani Hair when it's wet and be gentle when washing. You can use a wide-tooth comb to brush it out or use your fingers. Do not sleep in or swim with your Leyla Milani Hair attached as it can cause tangling and damage. Once dry, style as desired.
What is Leyla Milani Hair?How do I wear Leyla Milani Hair extensions?Is Leyla Milani Hair real human hair?
To learn about our return policy, click here.
We use USPS and UPS as our preferred shipping carrier for all domestic and international orders. Right now, we're offering FREE GROUND SHIPPING on all orders over $100 within the continental US. For domestic orders, please allow 1-7 business days depending on where you are located in the US. For international orders, please allow 5-15 business days, plus some additional time depending on the customs office. Please contact your local customs office for details as this varies per region. We provide tracking #'s for all domestic and international orders for convenience (some locations may vary based on region).


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December 04, 2012
Book Review - A Roomful of Bones by Elly Griffiths
This is not your straight forward story complicated as it is by indigenous Australian repatriation requests for ancient bones, druid dreaming, a trans gender bishop and a murder mystery centred on a race horse training stable. That all sounds complicated but we are in the hands of a very good story teller, so relax and enjoy the ride! The book characterized by wry humour . Dr Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist, has a daughter, the result we learn of a brief affair with a policeman.
"You're very brave,' someone said to her recently, 'to bring her up on your own." What choice did I have? Ruth wanted to say. Expose her on a hillside? Leave her to be adopted by a friendly wolf pack? But she did have a choice, she recognises, right at the beginning. A choice she supports. It was just that when it came to it she realised she wanted a baby very badly indeed. And, if she never sees him again, she will always be grateful to Nelson for this.
She does indeed see Nelson as they try to solve two mysterious deaths and a parallel investigation into a drug smuggling ring. This is the fourth in a series based on Ruth Galloway but I hadn't read the earlier ones and the story stands up as a read alone. It contains many twists and turns, lots of highly idiosyncratic individuals and some evocative scene setting. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Posted by Camden Council Library Service at Tuesday, December 04, 2012
Labels: Elly Griffiths, Fiction, Forensic Archaeology, Mystery, U.K.
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text: Good sleeping patterns improve memory and your ability to learn. Therefore, by improving the quality of your sleep, you will also improve your ability to learn. Good sleep also reduces the risk of infections, diabetes, heart disease, exhaustion and other conditions. There are some Contemporary beds design from BoConcept bedroom furniture collection that not only looks great but is extremely functional and versatile. Whether your bedroom requires furniture with built-in storage or you are looking for matching nightstands and drawers, BoConcept has the bedroom furniture you need. Choose the color that works best for you, configure it to fit in with your room's design and add a touch of modern versatility. Most of their contemporary furniture can be customized to suit your style and home. So, take inspiration from the Picture examples below.


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The next/third chapter in the Kingdom Hearts series will be released in 2018.
I could not find much information, but here is what I have learned so far.
A Tangled World.
It appears that 4 team members are available instead of the three from the previous versions, based on this screen.
This suggests there is some kind of summon mechanic:
In this case, Ariel in Tangled world.
I've also seen gameplay videos of a Monsters Inc World and a Toy Story world.
I also found this concept art:
Which could suggest that a Big Hero 6 world is going to be included.
This is the one I am looking forward to most of all.
I wonder if the world will incorporate airborne combat, as Baymax has flight capability.
And it's interesting to see the Heartless use advanced technology for the first time with their Heartless Baymax.


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| 4.7°C Belfast
Marks & Spencer's turnaround hopes were lifted today after sales figures showed the green shoots of recovery in its struggling fashion business.
The retail chain said clothing sales rose 0.6% on an underlying basis in the 13 weeks to March 29, driven by "clear signs of improvement" in womenswear following last autumn's relaunch of its M &S Collection.
Across general merchandise, which includes homewares as well as clothing, like-for-like sales were down by a smaller-than-expected 0.6% in the quarter, although this extends a three-year run of falling sales for the division.
Under chief executive Marc Bolland, who was appointed in 2010, t he company has hired new senior personnel and launched a celebrity-backed marketing push to revive its fashion business.
Marks said in a trading update: "Customers are responding well to our refocus on quality and style."
Today's figures should give Mr Bolland more time from investors to lead his turnaround, although an initial 3% rally for M&S shares was wiped out as attention turned to the squeeze on margins caused by discounting rivals.
Annual results are due to be published on May 20, with City forecasts recently pencilling in a 6% fall in profits to £623 million for the year to March.
It will mean the 130-year-old company being overtaken for the first time by rival Next - a relative upstart at 32 years old - which announced profits of £695 million last month .
Freddie George, a retail analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, kept his sell rating on the stock today and warned the profits figure could go as low as £610 million.
He said: "We continue to believe it will take a number of seasons before the existing team is able to manifest a marked improvement in performance in womenswear."
Marks said its food department had a "great quarter", with the later timing of Easter failing to prevent an 18th quarter in a row of like-for-like growth.
Despite some improvement in consumer confidence, Marks said it remains cautious about the outlook.
It said: "Our focus is on continuing to transform Marks & Spencer into an international, multi-channel retailer."
Neil Saunders, managing director of retail consultancy Conlumino, said it was likely that M&S still lost market share despite the sales rise in clothing over the quarter.
He said: "By our calculations, M&S has underperformed the market during this period and, as such, has continued to cede share.
"In essence, this is now the challenge for M&S - to start to rebuild some of the market share it has lost over the past decade and more.
"In a market that remains crowded and competitive, and with a business model that still needs some refinement, this will be a tall order and one that can only be achieved by a more radical rethink of the proposition."


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Walk-off! The Pelicans improved to a seasons best seven games over .500 with a 2-1 win over Salem thanks to a Billy McKinney walk-off dinger! You can also thank Duane Underwood for dominating on the mound.
At the Plate:
- Mark Zagunis is an on base machine, he was 0-for-2 with three walks in the win.
- Billy McKinney is similar to Zagunis in regards to being one of those on base machines, he was 1-for-1 with FOUR walks, said walk-off dinger, an RBI, and a run scored.
- Jacob Rogers, and Trey Martin each had one hit, both singles.
On the Mound:
- Duane Underwood Jr. got the start tonight, and was brilliant. He worked seven innings, giving up one run on three hits while walking one, and striking out four.
- Juan Paniagua was solid out of the pen, he worked two scoreless innings while striking out one.
- Michael Heesch picked up his second win of the season, he worked a scoreless inning in doing so.
A tough loss for the Smokies as they saw an early 4-0 lead slip away in a 5-4 loss. The Smokies scored four times in the first inning and couldn't find anymore offense the rest of the way.
At the Plate:
- Albert Almora has picked up where he left off before the injury, he was 1-for-4 with a run scored, he's hitting .310 on the season.
- Kyle Schwarber was solid in this one, he went 1-for-4 with a run scored.
- Bijan Rademacher had the big hit for the Smokies, he was 1-for-4 with a double, and three RBI's.
- Elliot Soto was the best of the bunch tonight, he was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
On the Mound:
- Corey Black got the start, and he struggled with his command, he worked five innings, giving up three runs on four hits while walking four, and striking out seven.
- Fernando Cruz was outstanding out of the pen, he worked three scoreless innings, giving up one run, unearned, on one hit while striking out four.
- Stephen Perakslis picked up the loss in this one, he worked two-thirds of an inning, giving up one run on three hits.
Things got a little close late in this one but the South Bend Cubs hung on to beat Bowling Green 3-2. Not many teams can say that as Bowling Green boasts a 17-11 record on the year, tonight the Cubs had just enough.
At the Plate:
- Charcer Burks has been great this year, it continued tonight, he was 1-for-3 with two walks, and two RBI's.
- Justin Marra found some extra base magic, he was 1-for-3 with a double, and a walk.
- Jesse Hodges was solid as well, he went 1-for-3 with his fifth double of the year, a walk, and a run scored.
- Jeffrey Baez had a nice game, he went 1-for-3 with a walk, and a run scored, maybe that will get him going.
- Gleyber Torres continues to get on base, he was 1-for-4 with a walk in the win.
On the Mound:
- Zach Hedges got the start, and he does what he usually does, put up zeroes. He worked five scoreless innings, giving up three hits while walking two, and striking out four.
- Ryan McNeil was decent out of the pen, he worked two scoreless innings, giving up one run on two hits while striking out two.
- Jordan Minch was touched up, he worked 1.2 innings, giving up one run on one hit while walking one, and striking out two.
- James Farris had his shortest outing of the year, but it was all he needed to pick up his third save of the year. He worked a third of an inning to shut the door.
The Iowa Cubs didn't have much going in this one, but found a way to push four runs across the plate in the seventh for a 4-1 victory in Nashville.
At the Plate:
- Arismendy Alcantara has been flashing the power in Iowa, he was 1-for-4 with a walk, his fourth dinger, two RBI's, a stolen base, and a run scored.
- Mike Baxter has been solid all year, he was 2-for-4 with a run scored, he's now hitting .314 on the season.
- Jonathan Mota was right in the middle of the action, he went 2-for-4 with a run scored in the win.
- John Andreoli, Chris Valaika, and Taylor Davis all had one hit tonight.
On the Mound:
- Tsuyoshi Wada got the start, and continues to make a push to be promoted, he worked 5.2 innings, giving up one run on four hits while walking two, and striking out six.
- Gonzalez Germen has been awesome in Iowa, he worked 1.1 scoreless innings to pick up his third win, he struck out two in the process.
- Blake Cooper worked a scoreless inning to pick up his second hold of the year.
- Brian Schlitter worked a scoreless ninth to pick up his first save of the season.


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Riots work: Wolf Blitzer and the Washington Post completely missed the real lesson from Baltimore
The police—not to mention capitalism—have done far more to damage Baltimore than any riot could
From Salon/ By
When Oscar Grant was shot by transit cop Johannes Mehserle in Oakland in the early hours of January 1, 2009, a week passed with no institutional response, while videos of Grant's murder spread on YouTube like a prairie fire. Then people rebelled, rioted, and took over the streets of Oakland twice—on January 7 and January 14—and just like that, and with the threat of another rebellion hanging heavily in the air, the mayor and the governor leaned on the Alameda County district attorney to bring charges.
When Mike Brown was gunned down by Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014, the community exploded in massive and sustained resistance on the streets. Aside from galvanizing public opinion and sparking a national movement against white supremacist policing, this street insurgency first forced the replacement of Ferguson PD by the St. Louis County Sheriff, and later bythe state Highway Patrol, as well as prompting both a federal investigation and a grand jury considering—but ultimately rejecting—Wilson's indictment for murder.
And when Freddie Gray died on April 19, 2015, after a week in a coma provoked by Baltimore City Police, we all know what happened next: in a wave of resistance rivaling Ferguson in the national attention it garnered, Black youth across Baltimore responded as directly as possible to those terrorizing their communities, in some cases chasing the "forces of order" out with bricks. After nearly a week of resistance—including the occupation of Baltimore by heavily-armed National Guard—Maryland state's attorney Marilyn Mosby stepped into the fray, announcing charges against six officers and admitting that her hand had been forced by the streets: "To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America: I heard your call for 'No justice, no peace.'"


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Financial FAQs
Corporate profits are at all-time highs, and workers compensation at all-time lows, as fast food workers continue to strike for higher minimum wages. Yet business interests still maintain maximum profits have to be a corporation's primary consideration. In fact, it would be breaking their corporate charters to operate otherwise!
Actually, not so. Maximizing corporate profits at the expense of everything else—such as environmental pollution—is no longer allowed. And workers have some protections, such as safety regulations under OSHA, and limitations on the number of work hour's minimum compensation. Then why has the glorification of profit maximization enriched stockholders and CEOs, but not their employees?
One answer is the resistance of businesses to raising the minimum wage. Some states have raised the minimum wage, such as California, and cities such as Seattle. But it's still $7.25 per hour for most states. This is even though many studies show that higher wages create greater prosperity overall. For instance, Australia, where the minimum wage for adult, full-time workers is $16.87 per hour, currently has a 3.1 percent annual GDP growth rate, vs. 2.5 percent in the U.S.
Nobelist Joseph Stiglitz, an advocate of greater income equality has said, "Our current brand of capitalism is an ersatz capitalism. For proof of this…we have monopolies and oligopolies making persistently high profits. C.E.O.s enjoy incomes that are on average 295 times that of the typical worker, a much higher ratio than in the past, without any evidence of a proportionate increase in productivity."
The hourly compensation of a typical worker grew in tandem with productivity from 1948–1973. But after 1973, productivity grew strongly, especially after 1995, while the typical worker's compensation was relatively stagnant. This divergence of pay and productivity has meant that many workers were not benefitting from productivity growth—the economy could afford higher pay but it was not providing it.
A new survey of Harvard Business Alumni by the Harvard Business School entitled A Troubling Divergence in the U.S. Economy highlighted several of the reasons. Business leaders in America are reluctant to hire full-time workers. Instead, many prefer investing in technology to perform work, outsourcing to third parties, or hiring part-time workers. Only 27 percent of respondents reported that their firms engage with institutions like community colleges to prepare students with workforce skills.
And when it comes to updating the public infrastructure that would support greater productivity, forty-two percent of Business School respondents reported that the condition of infrastructure like airports, ports, and roads had declined over the past three years. For every respondent who thought infrastructure had improved, nearly five felt it had worsened.
In fact, private sector growth has been lacking in both job creation and investment in plants and equipment over the past 5 years since the official end of the Great Recession. Private sector capital stock, at 22 years of age, is the oldest it has been since 1958, said economist David Rosenberg, and is strongly suggestive of an upgrade cycle (not to mention the fact that America's spending on public infrastructure at a 20-year low!).
The Calculated Risk graph pictures public sector jobs of both the national and state governments. It grew during Mr. Carter's term (up 1,304,000), during Mr. Reagan's terms (up 1,414,000), during Mr. G.H.W. Bush's term (up 1,127,000), during Mr. Clinton's terms (up 1,934,000), and during Mr. G.W. Bush's terms (up 1,744,000 jobs).
However the public sector has declined significantly since Mr. Obama took office (down 682,000 jobs). These job losses have mostly been at the state and local level, but more recently at the Federal level. Needless to say, this has been a significant drag on overall employment.
Is it all due to the Great Recession? We think not. The voices of wage and salary earners have been drowned out since then, and raising the minimum wage has not been made a priority by either party in Congress, or the White House to date. That is the tragedy, and the real solution to this continuing economic malaise.
The most recent protests are part of a two-year campaign to raise awareness of the plight of the fast-food worker, the latest having taken place in May, says the Guardian. While the demonstrations haven't led to an increase in the federal minimum wage, some states and localities have upped the minimum wage. Seattle raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour and Massachusetts residents will soon see an $11-an-hour minimum wage, according to NBC News. McDonald's Corp. is on record saying it supports a federal minimum wage increase, but not to $15 an hour, as demanded by its workers.
Harlan Green © 2014
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen


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Did mike just say this.. You need resistors on the base of the transistors
If that is an N channel FET then it will not work. Yo need a P type FET and base resistors and to put the LED and resistor in the collector of the transistor and not the emitter.However when you have done all that you will still have trouble because the PWM signals will beat with each other, some work at diffrent frequencies so they will not add up like you hope they will.
Hook each color up to a PWM output and tackle the software code?


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Ok, I admit, I am confused... are you looking to learn composition or compositing? Compositing is usually defined as "combining (two or more) images to make a single picture".
It's no use, Slobodan. It's like the difference between the verbs "to lie" and "to lay." No one knows the difference any more.
Russ, you forgot our old friends to, too and two; weather and whether; there and their, not to mention me and I...
"To lay" is of interest only in the passive (passive acquisitive, to be creative).Jeremy
Slobodan, The thing you have to remember is that there's no such thing as "more unique" or "somewhat unique." If you can hang on to that fact you're home free.Rob, Being an old guy, I agree: it just keeps getting worse and worse. I recently finished a novel that was chock full of bad grammar, misspellings, an inability to distinguish between plural and possessive, and hiliariously incorrect words. The novel was crappy but the writing and editing were so bad that I couldn't stop reading. The prize was the lawyer who was looking for an argument that would let him "go for the juggler." It wasn't a misspelling. He used the word in that connection more than once.
"To lay" is of interest only in the passive (passive acquisitive, to be creative).
Jeremy, Tsk.. tsk..


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70% of the signs of ageing are due to mechanical stress and UV rays. They cause micro-tears within the dermis and epidermis which are responsible for wrinkles and loss of firmness.
The Abeille Royale Repairing Concentrate, formulated with pure honey from the Black Bees of the Island of Ouessant and exclusive Guerlain Royal Jelly, optimizes the skin's revitalizing process*.
Combined with low and high molecular weight hyaluronic acid, it helps revitalize the surface of the skin for instant long-lasting improvements on its appearance
* In vitro tests on ingredients
Firming: +17% (1)
Wrinkle Minimizing: -20% (2)
Radiance: +40% (2)
(1) Auto-scoring, 31 women, twice-daily application for 28 days
(2) Clinical assessment, 31 women, twice-daily application for 28 days
Ouessant Honey
Just 18 km off the coast of Brittany is the Island of Ouessant, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve with an ecosystem that is parasite-free and protected from pesticides. On this island, the Black Bee produces honey of unrivalled purity, with exceptional properties. Rich in amino acids, trace elements and high in fructose-content, this honey is a "Grand Cru".
Guerlain Exclusive Royal Jelly
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Apply in the morning after the serum.


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Why are we so clever? In evolutionary terms this isn't obvious: evolution tends to favour cheap solutions and the human brain is expensive. It consumes about 20% of our body's energy budget yet it only makes up 2% of our body mass. There are many species that do perfectly well with only a minimum of intelligence, so why did it make evolutionary sense for us humans, and some of our animal cousins, to develop powerful brains?
One possible reason is our sociable lifestyle. We usually think of our ability to cooperate, share knowledge, and be nice to each other as being a result of our intelligence: you need to be clever to recognise the advantages of cooperation, to recognise individuals, remember how they behaved in the past and predict their future actions. But things might also work the other way around. Once a degree of cooperation has emerged in a society of humans or animals, intelligent individuals will do better, they will have more offspring, so bigger and more powerful brains evolve as a result of natural selection.
A new study by scientists from Ireland and the UK has put this social intelligence hypothesis to the test, using mathematical games and very basic artificial brains. Their results suggest that cooperation can indeed breed intelligence.
|Player 2 cooperates
|Player 2 defects
|Player 1 cooperates
|Player 1 defects
The difficulty with cooperation is encapsulated in a mathematical game called the prisoner's dilemma. In this game two players have the option to cooperate with each other or not to cooperate (to defect). There are four possible outcomes — both cooperate, both defect, player 1 cooperates and player 2 defects, player 2 cooperates and player 1 defects — and each comes with a benefit/cost to the players (see the table on the right: the first number gives the pay-off for player 1 and the second number the pay-off for player 2).
The table shows that each player would do better defecting than cooperating, regardless of what the opponent does. So as long as both players act rationally and selfishly, defect is what they'll do. This is slightly paradoxical since they would have done better still if they had both cooperated. It's a bit like two nuclear powers locked in stale mate: everyone would be better off if they decommissioned their arms, but without certainty that the other power is going to cooperate, it makes more sense to keep them.
Things change, however, when the game is played repeatedly: if you know that your opponent has cooperated in the past, it may make sense to trust them and cooperate too. The mathematician Martin Nowak has used the repeated prisoner's dilemma to explore how cooperation might emerge in societies of self-interested individuals. He created virtual societies of computer programs designed to play the prisoner's dilemma with each other using a variety of strategies. These included "always defect" and "always cooperate", but also more subtle ones that took their opponents' past behaviour into account. Each program would play every other program several times over a number of rounds, totting up the pay-off from each interaction. Nowak also equipped his programs with the ability to produce offspring: the bigger the total pay-off a program managed to accrue, the more children it would produce. And to reflect how evolution works in real life, he also allowed for random mutation, equipping some offspring with a strategy that varies slightly from their parent's.
Why did we develop such powerful brains?
As he sat back and watched his artificial society evolve over generations, Nowak found that it went through cycles. Initially defection would emerge as the most successful strategy (producing the most offspring) but soon cooperative strategies would begin to take hold and eventually become dominant. With so many trusting opponents, back-stabbing would then become profitable again, the peak of cooperation would be followed by one of defection, and so it went on in endless repetition (you can read about this in detail in the Plus article Does it pay to be nice?).
Nowak's work showed that in evolutionary terms it can indeed pay to be nice, but it did not make room for exploring the connection between cooperation and intelligence. The new study, conducted by Luke McNally and Andrew Jackson, both from Trinity College Dublin, and Sam Brown from the University of Edinburgh, used a similar approach to Nowak's, using the repeated prisoner's dilemma and a similar game called the repeated snowdrift game. But they replaced Nowak's simple computer programs by neural networks. These are mathematical objects that mimic the human brain: they are made up of interconnected nodes — artificial neurons — which act as processing units that transform the information they are given and then return an output.
When the networks used in the study met an opponent, they took the outcome of the last interaction with that opponent as input and then performed a number of calculations whose result indicated how they should behave in the current encounter: defect or cooperate. But the networks came with varying degrees of complexity, or "intelligence". Some would always behave in the same way — always defect or always cooperate — while more intelligent ones would base their decisions on more complex computations, taking varying amounts of past history into account.
Like in Nowak's work, the neural networks in the new study were able to produce offspring, but the number of offspring now depended on the pay-off they accrued minus a penalty for intelligence. This reflects the fact that having a large and powerful brain comes with a disadvantage. Random mutation would ensure that offspring networks might be a little more stupid or intelligent than their parent.
The team let their neural network society evolve over generations, keeping track not only of the strategies that emerged, but also of the level of intelligence their networks evolved. They found it was during phases in which cooperation first starts to emerge in a society that brains tend to become bigger. "The strongest selection for larger, more intelligent brains, occurred when the social groups were first beginning to start cooperating, which then kicked off an evolutionary Machiavellian arms race of one individual trying to outsmart the other by investing in a larger brain. Our digital organisms typically start to evolve more complex 'brains' when their societies first begin to develop cooperation." explains Jackson.
And the more intelligent brains also produced more intelligent strategies, involving forgiveness and patience as well as deceit and trickery. Their results, so the scientists argue, provide some evidence for the social intelligence hypothesis. So next time you're tempted to do the dirty on someone, remember: without cooperation and kindness, you may never have evolved the brain that enables you to cheat in the first place.


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The first time we had Korean fried chicken wings, we were at a rooftop bar in Manhattan. It was the Mé Bar on the 14th floor of the La Quinta Manhattan in Koreatown, with the Empire State Building rising high above us just a block away. And it was a single wing, generously pressed upon us by a table of enterprising New Yorkers who'd had them delivered to the bar (New Yorkers seem to be able to get just about anything delivered just about anywhere). We had smelled something spicy and delicious and asked what it was. They insisted we sample one.
The next day, we headed to the source for lunch – Kyochon Chicken, at Fifth Avenue and 32nd Street. How good were the wings? On our next visit to New York, we went straight from Penn Station to Kyochon, stowed our luggage in the corner and chowed down.
The wings at Kyochon are deep fried twice – "double fried" – to render out fat and make them extra crispy, a process pioneered by founder and chairman Won-Kang Kwon. They're then hand brushed with one of two signature sauces, Soy Garlic and Hot & Sweet. We order both and share them. And lick our fingers greedily before reluctantly using the provided wet naps.
But I don't deep fry. I just don't, for many reasons. If a recipe starts by measuring oil in inches of depth instead of tablespoons, I move on. So I opted for oven roasting. I knew I wouldn't achieve Kyochon's crispiness, but with plenty of aromatics and seasonings, my wings would be flavorful and have a little kick.
Korean Style Chicken Wings
Makes about 2 dozen wings
2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste – see Kitchen Notes)
4 teaspoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 pounds chicken wings and drumettes, from about 10 to 12 chicken wings with tips removed
1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional, but recommended)
Marinate the chicken wings. Combine gochujang, sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Place chicken in a gallon plastic zipper food storage bag and add the marinade. Seal bag and turn to coat chicken pieces evenly. Marinate chicken in the refrigerator for at least 1/2 hour and up to 3 hours, turning at least once. Remove chicken from fridge, leaving it in bag, and bring to room temperature, about 1/2 hour.
Roast wings. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and arrange wings skin side up in a single layer so that they're not touching. Reserve marinade. Roast on middle shelf for about 30 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F. Meanwhile, heat reserved marinade in a small sauce pan to boiling, reduce heat to very low and simmer sauce for 5 minutes. If it gets too thick, add a tablespoon of water. About 20 minutes into the roasting time, baste chicken wings with marinade.
Also meanwhile, toast the sesame seeds, if using them (do use them – they add a nice, nutty flavor). Place them in a small, dry nonstick skillet and heat it over medium-low flame. Toast seeds, stirring or shaking frequently to avoid burning, until they start to turn fragrant and golden, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Remove chicken wings from oven. Use a spatula to loosen them from foil. Arrange wings on a platter. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve.
Kitchen Notes
Gochujang is available in Asian markets. I've also found it at Whole Foods and even my neighborhood supermarket. If you can't find it, try substituting either the more readily available Sriracha Sauce or Chinese chili paste. With the latter, I would start with a much smaller quantity and taste before adding the marinade to the chicken. Chinese chili paste is much more fiery than gochujang.
– Terry Boyd blogs at Blue Kitchen.
Related post: Tacos with a Korean accent
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of food bloggers. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by The Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own and they are responsible for the content of their blogs and their recipes. All readers are free to make ingredient substitutions to satisfy their dietary preferences, including not using wine (or substituting cooking wine) when a recipe calls for it. To contact us about a blogger, click here.


text:
Fall Semester delay due to fires — starts August 31. Learn More Register Now
Wildfire resources for impacted students, employees, and County residents. Learn More
Resources for students and information about our response. Learn More
Philosophy is concerned with our most fundamental assumptions about human experience.
The study of philosophy involves such questions as: What can we know and how do we know it? What criteria should we use to decide whether an action is right or wrong? What makes human life worthwhile? Philosophy is also concerned with the way in which we answer these questions, i.e. with the construction and evaluation of arguments.
A student with an interest in philosophy would ordinarily transfer to a four-year college or university in order to obtain a Bachelor's degree. Such an education would prepare him or her for graduate work in the subject or for certain business and professional schools where a liberal education is required. One of the most noteworthy of these is law, since the philosopher's training in general argument analysis facilitates consideration of the special kinds of legal argumentation. A person who is interested in teaching philosophy must obtain a Master's degree to be employed by a community college, or a Ph.D. in order to teach at the university level.
Most colleges and universities offer a degree in philosophy; the requirements may differ from one institution to another so interested students should consult with a counselor in order to determine the best preparation for their particular case.
|Philosophy Department
|Claudia Close
|Aptos Campus, Rm. 433D


text:
Welcome to the Java Web Archive Toolkit
This wiki describes the overall packages and also includes some detail on how the main classes are implemented.
The JWAT code was originally intended for use only in a number of JHove2 modules, but since the classes can be of use outside the JHove2 project, an independent project was created.
For more fine grained information about the API the javadocs should be consulted.
- Classes to read and validate Arc, GZip and Warc files.
- Support for reading and validating GZip compressed Arc and Warc files.
- Common classes for Base64, Base32 and Base16.
- Various special purpose stream implementations.
Mercurial source repository
Issue tracker
Continuous integration
Browser source code
Code analysis
Downloads: TBD
Maven site: TBD.
Blog stream
Create a blog post to share news and announcements with your team and company.


text: I remember when our daughter was a baby, I was frustrated by the books I had to read to her. I wanted something that I could engage her with–so I could point things out, and not be constricted by the reading of words. I found these books on a trip to Italy, and bought several to give away to friends with babies. You can find them on Amazon, and I think they make for a sweet shower gift.


text:
NEW DELHI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Monday that it would be "deeply troubling" if Russia or Hong Kong had adequate notice about Edward Snowden's plans to flee to a country that will grant him asylum and still allowed him leave.
Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor and a self-admitted leaker of state secrets, fled from Hong Kong to Moscow on Sunday after the U.S. moved to extradite him to face espionage charges. He was expected to seek political asylum in Ecuador.
He was booked on a flight from Moscow to Cuba on Monday, but he was not seen on the plane. It was unclear where he was or where he was he was trying to go, Kerry said. The U.S. has revoked Snowden's passport.
"We don't know, specifically, where he may head, or what his intended destination may be," Kerry said, responding to a question during a news conference in New Delhi where he was discussing bilateral issues between the U.S. and India.
He also was asked about whether the Snowden incident would affect the U.S. relationship with China and Russia.
"It would be deeply troubling, obviously, if they had adequate notice, and notwithstanding that, they make the decision willfully to ignore that and not live by the standards of the law," Kerry said.
"There is a surrender treaty with Hong Kong and if there was adequate notice — I don't know yet what the communication status was. But if there was, it would be very disappointing if he was willfully allowed to board an airplane ... and there would be, without any question, some effect and impact on the relationship and consequences. With respect to Russia, likewise."
The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.
In the past two years, the U.S. has transferred seven prisoners to Russia that Moscow wanted, he said. "I think reciprocity and the enforcement of the law is pretty important," Kerry said, but he did not identify the law he was referencing.
Kerry also noted the countries involved in the incident.
"I suppose there is no small irony here. I mean, I wonder if Mr. Snowden chose China and Russian assistance in his flight from justice because they're such powerful bastions of Internet freedom, and I wonder if while he was in either of those countries he raised the question of Internet freedom since that seems to be what he champions."


text:
I've always wondered if Tracy Morgan is playing himself on 30 Rock, or if it's all an act. Also, I've seen Morgan on David Letterman and have always wondered if he's pulling an Andy Kaufman with the way he acts…or if it's really him. Based on the Los Angeles press junket for Death at a Funeral, I'm going to say it's not an act.
The reason I can say that is while waiting in a hallway for my interview with Tracy Morgan and Luke Wilson, I got to hear Morgan saying some of the craziest things during other interviews. Most of them are not safe to print – let alone say on television. While we couldn't hear everything behind the door, we heard enough that every journalist waiting and a few publicists were laughing a lot. Actually, I felt added pressure walking in to my interview, as I was hoping to get some wild and crazy answers. Hit the jump to see if I did….
Of course the reason I got to speak with Morgan and Wilson was Neil LaBute's Death at a Funeral, which stars Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Zoë Saldaña, Columbus Short, Luke Wilson, Peter Dinklage, Danny Glover, Regina Hall, and Keith David. The movie is a remake of the 2007 British film with the same name. If you saw the previous version, the remake is the same story set in America. Here's some clips from the movie and here's the interview. I think you'll like it.
Death at a Funeral gets released this Friday.
Tracy Morgan and Luke Wilson
- Do they get any crazy questions when they're doing a junket
- What is a movie they'd like to see a sequel to even if they're not in it
- What do they want at their own funeral


text: Property Masters has a staff of experienced project managers located strategically throughout the state Elizabeth, Jersey City, Newark, Paterson, and Trenton. With a dedicated local project manager on each job site, as well as a personal project administrator to oversee your account and serve as your point of contact, you will be consistently updated on your REO property while we work on repairs to ensure that your sale is maximized and expedited. We take great pride in helping our clients sell their properties faster!


text:
i've always had a soft spot for people who speak out and defend themselves. to me it shows substance. much slated German director Uwe Boll has released a statement regarding an internet petition to stop him from making movies. for those of you who aren't familiar with his movies click here. and this is what he has to say.
love it.


text:
What now for the proponents of austerity? Up until last month it seemed they had won the policy and PR debate. With disciples across Europe and the US, and with Angela Merkel as its high priestess, fiscal restraint was positioned as a dose of much needed tough medicine. The mantra was clear; no pain, no gain. Politically unassailable, this was one helluva PR launch with some influential backers. Over the last month, however, things have become a little more complicated: austerity may have lost its PR claim as a cure all.
Last week, economists at the University of Massachusetts reviewed calculations cited in Growth In a Time of Austerity, the bible for those justifying tightened fiscal policy, as flawed. The claim? The research published in January 2010 by Harvard University included "selective exclusion of available data and unconventional weighting of summary statistics." The case for austerity is now not so clear.
Since then, austerity seems to be losing more and more PR steam. EU nations are sliding deeper into recession, with unemployment in Spain and Greece topping 30 percent. In Britain, austerity is responsible for a limp 0.3 percent growth, while Germany, the champion of austerity, is teetering on the edge of recession. Has austerity fallen out of fashion? The headlines would seem to suggest that less has not added up to more.
THE PR VERDICT: "F" (Full Fiasco) for the proponents of austerity, who continue to lose a losing battle.
THE PR TAKEAWAY: Product launches can teach us something about ideological launches. If austerity was a consumer product, it would now be sitting on the supermarket shelves unloved and unwanted. Why? Because not one of its proponents have been able to demonstrate tangible benefits. Despite a big and loud launch, its advocates seem to be retreating into the shadows. Where are the business leaders confirming they are hiring in the face of cutbacks? Without some simple proof points and enthusiastic advocates, this is one launch that might have seen its brief vogue run right out of steam and into the dustbins of economic history.


text:
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text:
Last minute pediatrics : a concise review for the specialty boards Meyer, George Keith;
By: Meyer, George KeithMaterial type: TextPublisher: New York: McGraw-Hill: c2004Description: xi,420p.: ill. 23.5 cmISBN: 9780071421799Subject(s): PediatricsDDC classification: 618.92
|Item type
|Current location
|Call number
|Date due
|Item holds
University College of Medicine Library
Shelf No. 56, LBS
The library of the University College of Medicine & Dentistry was established in 2001 with the establishment of The University College of Medicine & Dentistry, the constituent College of The University of Lahore (UOL). The Library is housed at new campus of The University of Lahore, Defense Road Lahore. The Library has a rich up-to-date collection of books, CDs/DVDs, International Impact factor journals, national periodicals, newspapers, Digital Library and has access to the digital information resources subscribed by UOL.
The mission of the Medical Library is to be a highly effective member of the UOL learning community, providing leadership in information mastery, access to essential spaces, resources and services, and collaborating in the development and delivery of an innovative medical education.
|Not for loan and check out is restricted
|618.92 MEY-L 2004 504159 (Browse shelf)
|Not For Loan (Restricted Access)
Include index.


text:
Asperger's syndrome dropped by American Psychiatric Association manual
Families concerned those with diagnosis will lose services
The American Psychiatric Association manual is the bible of psychiatry. And next year one diagnosis, Asperger's syndrome, will not be in it.
Families worry that change could cost Asperger's syndrome patients services and their sense of identity.
A special program at Brookline High School teaches students with Asperger's syndrome away from the mainstream, in small classes.
Joe Foley, 16, attends the class. Like many with Asperger's syndrome, he's intensely involved in one subject. In his case, it's travel. But he works hard in school.
"It's grade-level work, but there's more attention because it's a smaller class and it's less overwhelming," said Foley.
Foley was diagnosed at age six with Asperger's, a high-functioning form of autism.
It's been part of the Diagnostic and Statistical manual for Mental Disorders for over 20 years. But new revisions will eliminate it -- lumping Asperger's patients together under Autism Spectrum Disorder.
"It's over-diagnosed. People choose to say Asperger's rather than autistic. But all of the research would say there's no difference between Asperger's and high-functioning autism," said Dr. Sarah Spence, a child neurologist at Children's Hospital.
But for those with loved ones struggling with Asperger's syndrome, concern is setting in that the elimination of the diagnosis will leave many without help and with less educational support.
"The concern is that some children who have been previously diagnosed with Asperger's and recognized as autistic will get some other diagnosis. And they are bound to come with a lower level of services than an autism diagnosis provides," said Lucy Berrington, Joe's mother.
The American Psychiatric Association said most people diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome will continue to qualify for help under the Autism Spectrum Disorder umbrella.
But the Asperger's community, including clinicians, worry there's more at stake than just a label. They say Asperger's is an identity, one the larger community has only recently come to understand.
"I think it's become less stigmatized. So there's been a lot of work to make it understandable to the public, to employers who have some sense of what it means and would give someone a chance," said Dr. Scott McLeod, an Asperger's specialist at Mass General. "Losing that label will be disempowering for them."
The American Psychiatric Association said the main reason for the change was to help more accurately and consistently diagnose children with autism across the spectrum.


text:
I returned late last night from the Spring DevConnections event, delivering three sessions in the SQL Server Connections conference. I talked about Encryption, Filestream/Filetable, and Contained Databases. Always cool to see your name in print
It was a nice event, with decent crowds in the SQL Server. I didn't have a ton of people, but when you're competing with the SQLskills crew, Brent Ozar, Allen White, Glen Berry and a few others, it's hard to draw a large crowd.
Grant and Brad both presented as well, filling up the slots in our SQLServerCentral track, and talking about a wide range of topics. Grant's talk on continuous integration and deployment was really good, with lots of interesting information. It was good to hear from a few people in the audience that face challenges on this particular topic. We have a whitepaper from Red Gate that talks a little about how we solve this, but Grant gave some other alternatives that you could use to tackle this.
The show was at the MGM Grand this time, and I have to say I really like that resort. Things seemed a little closer together, more food/dining choices, and close to other places on the strip. A walk to the Bellagio was no big deal. There were also three of my favorite morning stops on the road
It wasn't just me that liked the hotel. I left Paul Randal, Kimberliy Tripp, Brent Ozar, and Glenn Berry at Craftsteak Thur night to go to the airport. I say down before my flight to see a tweet that the First Lady of the US was having dinner that night in the restaurant.
The sessions I attended and delivered were interesting. Lots of system administrators and developers mixed in with the DBAs, looking for information on various features. It was a twist to get questions that sometimes were more basic for DBAs, and at the same time, had a different view and some challenges when presented from another perspective. On a panel with Grant Fritchey and Brent Ozar, we had some interesting HA/DR questions from the audience about 2012 as well, things that made us think a bit.
The exhibition hall was a little small, but it's nicely set up with long breaks between some sessions for people to wander around and see what new third party tools are available. I spent a little time at the Red Gate booth and had some very interesting conversations with people, including a nice long one about .NET development.
As I do everywhere on the road, I start the mornings out with a run. This time the loop around the MGM complex is a little over a mile and a half, which I enjoyed all three days with Allen White at 6:30 every morning. #sqlrun in Las Vegas!
This time the Windows and Visual Studio tracks were on another floor, and with three sessions to prepare for, I didn't get the chance to visit those tracks. I did see a great talk from Allen on Server Core, which I've been wanting to experiment with. Look for most of my future server VMs to be Server Core, which should make things run faster on my little Air.
I also saw a couple talks from Mark Minasi on Windows 8 and that looks rather interesting in a few ways. I'm not sure I like the client interface, but some of the architectural changes look like good moves on the part of Microsoft. The server side, especially seems like it will end up being a good server OS for management by IT staffs.
The other great thing about a show in Vegas is the wide variety of shows. I asked in my sessions and a few people saw Ka, one of the Cirque du Soleil shows. Someone saw David Copperfield as well, which I would have liked to see. Oh well, there's always next time.
My entertainment this time was a wonderful dinner with Brent Ozar and Grant Fritchey at e by Jose Andres in the Cosmopolitan. Brent invited us and I wasn't sure since it's a very fancy dinner. However I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not sure I'd go back myself, but I'd take someone else, just for the experience. The food was very interesting (I'm not a foodie), and the presentation amazing. I had a great time. Here was one of our "courses"
Overall a great show, and a fun time. SQLServerCentral is one of the sponsors, and we have a track there every show.
We should be back in the fall, this time at the Bellagio, Oct 29-Oct 1. Hopefully you can join us, and we look forward to seeing you then.